After a couple of days of iffy weather by Southern California standards earlier in the week, the sun is shining brightly on Mission Bay and the San Diego Crew Classic. The beach at Crown Point Shores was already filling up on Thursday morning as the local crews set up shop and some out of town crews showed up early. Now on Friday it is a full house. The organizers are circulating a survey to gauge people's interest in having a three day regatta that would include semifinals for some of the widely subscribed events. One more day in America's Finest City!?
Tomorrow's heats will be extremely competitive in all the events. Check your heat sheet carefully to make sure you know the progression system. For example, the Whittier Cup for the top women's eights will see the top four crews from each heat advance to an eight boat final on Sunday. Will anybody be able to knock the defending champion Trojans from USC off of the gold medal stage?
On the men's side of things there will be two heats of four boats each in the Copley Cup. Everybody advances to the final, but the finish order determines the lane draw for Sunday's final. Most experts expect a showdown between Cal and Yale, a match up that harkens back to the feature race of the first Crew Classic, Navy versus Washington.
There are also separate events for Cal Cup varsity crews as well as DII / DIII / club crews that will be just as hotly contested. Add in second eights, fours, three levels of high school events (varsity, JV, and novice), masters events, a row to honor Joan Lind van Blom, and other special events and it will be a long and exciting day.
Now it is off to the coaches and coxswains meeting. Anybody want to guess who asks the inevitable question, "What is the regatta time?"
To watch the show from home, here is a link to the streams each day:
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